Britain have held on to their silver medal position after two groups of riders in the Olympic dressage team final – the grand prix special.
Germany have remained in gold after a stunning round from world number one Isabell Werth, who slammed 83.3% (83.298%) onto the scoreboard with her “dream horse’ Bella Rose. Meanwhile Britain’s Lottie Fry scored 76.85% with Everdale after a very assured performance that just featured one mistake – a break to canter in the first passage to extended trot transition.
“I was really happy – it was a shame we had one mistake near the beginning, but I kind of really picked him up after that. I thought, ‘We can’t afford to lose anymore [marks]’ and he listened to that and really gave everything from that point. A lot of things about it were better than the grand prix,” said Lottie.
Carl Hester had already banked a super score for Britain, achieving plus-78% with En Vogue, to give Britain confidence.
The USA have bypassed Denmark to occupy the bronze medal spot, while Denmark sit fourth ahead of the Netherlands in fifth. Spain, who qualified in eighth position before the slates were wiped clean, have risen to sixth, ahead of Sweden in seventh and Portugal in eighth.
Just one rider from each team is yet to perform, and they will run in reverse order of merit, with Charlotte Dujardin and Gio being the penultimate rider. Jessica von Bredow-Werndl – the highest scorer from the grand prix – will be the last into the arena on TSF Dalera, riding for the gold medal.
Still to come from the USA is Sabine Schut-Kery, who produced a huge personal best on Saturday with Sanceo. She will be hoping to hang on the bronze, while Denmark’s Cathrine Dufour will be fighting to push her nation back onto the podium, riding Bohemian.
The action is due to restart at 8.55pm local time – 12.55pm in the UK.
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